Our Issues
To achieve our mission of making high-quality, affordable and equitable health care a right, and not a privilege, for everyone in America, Protect Our Care will:
- Defend Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from funding cuts and restructuring that would cause millions to lose their health coverage.
- Advance health equity by strengthening health coverage for mothers, children, and families including requiring 12 months of postpartum coverage in Medicaid, permanently authorizing funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and passing the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act.
- Defeat legal attacks on no-cost preventive services, Medicare negotiations for lower drug costs, and medication abortion.
- Support robust implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions to reduce prescription drug costs.
- Build on the Inflation Reduction Act by extending its provisions to lower prescription drug costs to private insurance plans so more people benefit, not just seniors.
- Make the enhanced premium tax credits for Marketplace coverage permanent.
- Lay the groundwork to expand Medicare coverage to include vision, hearing, and dental and to close the Medicaid coverage gap in the 10 states that have failed to expand the program with a federal option.
Our Core Programs
DC Health Care Policy War Room
Protect Our Care’s model for legislative advocacy combines an action-oriented mentality with a best-in-class communications program, an effective inside game with policymakers, and deep engagement at the state and grassroots level. The “War Room” is a centralized team of experts in health policy, communications, lobbying, research, social media, paid media, and coalition building who are responsible for our federal programs. In addition, the War Room staff coordinate with our state teams and create shared resources like polling and messaging guidance, reports, and fact sheets on various health policy topics. They also conduct press calls, and organize events to generate media coverage, place op-eds, engage with elected officials, and amplify the voices of our health care storytellers.
State Teams
Since our founding in 2017, we have had teams in more than 25 states. They operate under the Protect Our Care brand and function much like a state office or chapter. Our staff in the states are highly experienced and well connected political, communications and issue advocacy professionals. We currently have teams in ten states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin – and we will likely add additional states soon.
Annual “Care Force One” Bus Tour
Protect Our Care conducts a multi-state, grassroots bus tour in cities and towns across the country every year to educate and engage the public in our health care policy campaigns. The goal of the bus tour is to empower people to demand better health care at lower costs. Our team gets on our bus, called “Care First One,” and travels the country educating, rallying and mobilizing the public by connecting them with their elected officials in a series of events.
Our Special Initiatives
Health Care Storyteller Corps
Our Storyteller Corps is the largest and most impactful network of health care storytellers in the country. We amplify the voices of ordinary people who have powerful and compelling stories to tell about the health care system in America. These stories drive media coverage and inspire others to join the health care reform movement by putting a personal face on what is often a complex, partisan policy debate. Our storyteller network also includes doctors, nurses and other health workers and leaders who serve as frontline communicators both nationally and in their communities.
Advancing Health Equity
The American health care system is riddled with inequities. Deep-rooted historical discrimination in employment, housing, education, and other sectors, as well as other forms of structural racism perpetuate disparities in health experienced by communities of color and other marginalized populations. Protect Our Care is dedicated to building a more equitable health care system in the United States. Our health equity strategies are driven by our commitment to promoting public policies that address access to quality, comprehensive health care by expanding coverage, reducing costs, and improving care in the communities where it is most needed. In addition, we leverage our relationships and assets to center and amplify the work of our partners and allies who focus on addressing other social and structural determinants of health.
Health Care Legal Defense Action Center
Americans have seen tremendous gains in health care over the last decade. Unfortunately, much of this progress at expanding coverage, reducing costs and advancing health equity is being aggressively challenged in the courts. Furthermore, unprecedented legal attacks on reproductive freedoms have been launched which threaten women’s health and our entire FDA drug approval system. Ideologically-driven, dark money-funded lawsuits are being filed against the underlying statutes, administrative rulings and executive actions necessary for implementing these laws. Protect Our Care, building on its track record of successful campaigns tracking previous lawsuits from the District Courts to the Supreme Court, will defend health care from these ongoing legal threats.
Lowering the Cost of Prescription Drugs
In August 2022 President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. Thanks to this historic legislation, Medicare now has the authority to negotiate the price of prescription drugs with pharmaceutical companies; out-of-pocket costs that Medicare enrollees pay for prescription drugs will be capped at $2,000 annually; Medicare enrollees’ monthly costs for insulin are capped at $35 per month; many vaccinations are available without out-of-pocket costs; and drug companies that increase prices faster than inflation will be required to pay rebates to Medicare. This law is a huge achievement, but it is by no means secure. Republicans in Congress and powerful, well-financed lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry will do everything they can to repeal or weaken the law. Protect Our Care is leading the fight to defend the Inflation Reduction Act and will continue to advocate for policies to further reduce the cost of prescription drugs to all people in America, not just seniors.